In the digital satellite broadcasting system (DSS) which has been put to commercial use in the United States, a multiplicity of more than 150 channels are available, and very numerous programs are being provided. In this system, guide information on programs which are presently being broadcast and programs which will be broadcast in the future is transmitted at predetermined time intervals together with primary program data. A user-side terminal has a function of displaying a program guide screen (program guide table) on the basis of the program guide information. As shown in FIG. 10, a partial program guide table of an entire program guide table E corresponding to the entire program guide information received is displayed on the user-side terminal. A plurality of program guides are displayed on the program guide screen in a matrix form by using the ordinate as a channel number axis and the abscissa as a time axis. In this example, programs on five channels for a period of two hours and a half are displayed. At the left end, channel numbers are displayed in a vertical arrangement. Frames which indicate time periods of programs which are broadcast on the respective channels are displayed in rows corresponding to the respective channels, and titles (A to P) are displayed in the respective frames.
The display screen is scrolled vertically or horizontally as the user operates a cursor, thereby making it possible to display other portions of the program guide table within the entire program guide table E.
Programs which are provided in the DSS include no-charge programs which can be viewed free of charge if the user pays a system utilization fee, including a charge for subscribing to the DSS, a basic fee, and the like, as well as chargeable programs for which fees are charged separately from the system utilization fee. In addition, the chargeable programs include those which the user purchases in advance in units of channels, and those for which fees are charged only when the programs are viewed (PPV: pay per view). To view a PPV program, a procedure for purchase must be taken on the television screen before the program is started or when that program is being broadcast.
To purchase a PPV program, a PPV program to be purchased is selected from a program guide table displayed on the television screen shown in FIG. 10. Then, since a purchase procedure screen is displayed, a purchase procedure is taken in accordance with the instructions on the screen.
Since the user has not necessarily memorized accurately the purchased PPV program, there are cases where the user happens to purchase by subscription two or more PPV programs which are broadcast in the same time period. In addition, in a case where a plurality of users are present for one user-side terminal, there is a high possibility that the user happens to purchase by subscription two or more PPV programs which are broadcast in the same time period for one user-side terminal.
In addition, time periods during which users can view television programs and time periods during which users wish to view television programs are generally fixed for each user. For this reason, broadcast time periods of PPV programs which are purchased by subscription by users are also generally fixed for each user. Accordingly, it will be convenient if time periods during which users wish to view television programs can be set for each user, and as for a program guide on programs which are broadcast during the set time period, the user is able to recognize that the program guide is the program guide on programs which are broadcast during the time period set by the user.
An object of the present invention is to provide a program-guide-display controlling apparatus and a television receiver in which the situation is made unlikely to occur in which two or more PPV programs which are broadcast during the same time period happen to be purchased, or such a display can be used as a rough criterion as to whether or not a PPV program or the like is to be purchased, by providing display in the program guide display such that a time period for which the user made a purchase by subscription and a time period designated by the user can be discriminated.